5 Tigers

A Chinese Chess Variant

The latest issue of XiangQi Review contains information on a popular
variant called "5 Tigers". The "5 Tigers" refers to
red's 5 pawns, which have special powers. The pawns can move 2 point each
move, or red could choose the option of, on one turn, moving one pawn one
point, and another pawn one point. Once they cross the river, they can
also move sideways, just as in standard Xiangqi. A red pawn across the
river could move one point forward and one point sideways on one turn.

So how to make the game fair for black? Well, in this variant, red plays
WITHOUT his 2 rooks, 2 knights, and 2 cannons! It may seem at first glance
that red wouldn't have a chance with such a material deficit, but that
just shows the might of the 5 tigers, as their 2-point moves can quickly
overwhelm the enemy king.

This is the starting lineup:

(So, we take the standard setup of Xiangqi,
and remove reds rooks, knights, and cannons.)

Red's objective is to create passed tiger-pawns and get them as close
to the black king as possible to deliver mate, and also to try to take
as many enemy pieces as possible. Black wants to defend his king, kill
off as many tigers as possible, while remaining with enough of a material
advantage to win the game. If black can exchange either a rook, knight,
or cannon for each tiger, he will probably win, because he will still have
one piece remaining.

To see the danger of a red tiger in the black king's palace, look at
this diagram:

In this position, black is checkmated! Notice the red tiger near the
black king. Because red is threatening to take his king with P6+1 and P6=5,
black must either move his king or kill the tiger. He can do neither. If
black's left minister were above his king, he would have the move k5=6
and could escape.

Stephen Leary

This text is written by Stephen Leary, author of the Xiangki
FAQ. The figures were made by Hans Bodlaender. Thanks to Joonas Kekoni
for noting an error.
WWW page created: October 24, 1995.
Last modified: September 30, 1997.
﻿

Comments

In response to the comments about Tigers inevitably moving into danger on their first move, note that a Tiger movew can tak two forms: moving one Tiger two steps, or moving two Tigers one step each. Thus the first Tiger move would normally be to move one each from the fourth to the firth rank. This would put them in a threatening rather than threatened position.

Can tigers move 2 steps sideways on opponent's side of board? Or they can
move 2 steps only forward?
By the way, have someone tryed to play with tigers against
'All-in-one-piece' (chariot+knight+cannon)?

i would think that the five tigers should be able to move sideways from the
beginning... how are they supposed to get across the river otherwise?...
can't blue/black just kind of hover around on the far banks, re-arranging
his pieces and picking the tigers off as they come across?... wouldn't it
be better to let the tigers move sideways from the start?
also, if i understand correctly, the diagram here does indeed show a
checkmate, because even if the king's left advisor goes in front of the
king, the pawn, with it's 2-point movement would simply 'turn the
corner' and 'boom'... king taken... that ability to move 1 sideways and
one forward (or vice versa)... seems fairly powerful for trapping the
black/blue king in the palace....